Where Halo goes wrong...

[rossatdi]

I have no hatred for Halo. I believe it to be a good/OK shooter with a a few good things: dedicated grenade buttons, attempts to make an interesting setting, quite imaginative.

Where it falls down is thus:

Master Chief is supposed to be saving humanity from destruction. So where the hell is humanity? Except for the space ship at the very beginning of one and the brief bits in the human base in 3 there's very little of the oppressive suffering of humanity.

If there was any real sense that humanity was doomed it would make the feeling of being a hero much greater. Genuinely in the larger battles you do feel like YOU are turning the tide. The fact that you're not really shown what your fighting for is an issue.

Why isn't there a section where the Chief is battling off covenant soldiers from a human civilian institution - filled with refugees and the war injured.

 

[Kahuna-Kurt]

the sad part is the friendly ai is only good if your shooting them...

also they have the easiest controls I've seen which is good if you're a beginner...

the enemy ai can really just be ignored...

yet the game is fun.(I really like killing my own men because that way I get a real fight.

also yes bigger battles are needed like the one in the halo 2 demo, that was better than the game itself.

 

[Frosk]

You forgot about the first half of Halo 2.

But, much of the games are played either on the Halos themselves or on alien planets. So, why would we see what you are talking about?

Edit: forgot to talk about the grenade thing. The controls for grenades in Halo I think are really good. If you are holding a gun in one hand, and the other hand is free (save two handed weapons, but you take your hand off to throw) you are allowed to throw grenades. If you are dual wielding, gun in each hand, you can't throw grenades because your hands are full. Seems like it would be that way in real life so it works in Halo.

 

[rossatdi]

Because being humanity's hero requires being AROUND humanity? You can have suffering people on planets other than earth.

 

[Kahuna-Kurt]

You forgot about the first half of Halo 2.

But, much of the games are played either on the Halos themselves or on alien planets. So, why would we see what you are talking about?

he wanted to have it be on earth to show that we'd be fighting against an all powerful empire compared to a small collection of colonies and home worlds.

Edit: nevermind

 

[Digitalpotato]

What halo could have done better was not tried to have been like shadow of the colossus and thrown bloom everywhere. At least they weren't bragging about being realistic like Shadow of the colossus was, despite that the real world actually has colour and less fog.

 

[Swenglish]

You're right. That's the thing that really annoyed me with the Halo series. Remember the first level in Halo 2? New Mmombasa, or however you spell it? It was the best level in the game. Great level design, great vechile section, perfectly balanced, great length, and to finish it of a great boss batle with the Scarab.

Why wasn't it like that the rest of the game?

 

[MysteriousSquirrel]

One of Halos big faults is (as Yahtzee put it best) indecisive. It cant decide if it wants to be scary or cute. When you are being mauled by the flood, and things are dark, and music is eerie, you are going for a fear appeal. When you have 3 foot trolls wandering about screaming and making slap-stick comedy, you want to entertain your audience. The constant switch between the two threw me off alot in the game.

 

[Kahuna-Kurt]

ok I'll admit the eatrh levels on 2 were good, to be honest I really only liked the urban areas, it had more of a guerilla feel

 

[rossatdi]

The indecisive things is pretty accurate actually. Its difficult to feel like God's gift to a stricken human race when the bad guys wonder around looking like the 3 Stooges feel into a bucket of paint.

 

[LewsTherin]

It goes wrong at the start screen *ba dum tish*

Actually, moreso when it's ZOMG its teh Fluddz! in the first one was a bit of a let down, but by the level in 3 with the nuked city and all the flood it was pretty cool.